Wednesday, March 22, 2017

GPCB official nabbed taking Rs 1.20 lakh bribe

A class-1 official of Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) at Godhra was caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths on Wednesday while accepting a bribe of Rs 1.20 lakh from a Halol-based person. The class-1 official allegedly demanded the bribe to give nod to the person to start a de mineralized water plant in Halol town near Godhra.

As per a statement of ACB, the accused identified as Girijashankar Sadhu, a regional officer with GPCB in Godhra, had demanded a bribe of Rs 1.20 lakh after conducting a visit to the de-mineralized water plant. "The complainant had made online application to get No Objection Certificate (NOC) to start de-mineralized water plant after setting it up at Halol. The accused had recently visited the plant and demanded Rs 1.20 lakh from the complainant to give him nod to start the plant," said the statement.

"Having received the complaint, the ACB official swung into action and planned to trap the GPCB official. ACB police inspector from Ahmedabad, S K Rahevar has finally trapped Sadhu while accepting the bribe of Rs 1.20 lakh," added the statement.

The ACB officials said that an audio recorded was used during the trap and audio recording can be used as evidence to substantiate the case against the GPCB official.